Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Will Make Player Choices More Impactful, Boss Fights Will Be Optional

Eidos Montreal is developing a sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution which takes place two years afterwards. The Golden Age for augmented people is over in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Adam Jensen works in an anti-terrorist group. Siliconera spoke with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided producer Stephan Roy to find out more about the game.

Since player choice is a core part of the Deus Ex series how do you plan to account for Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s multiple endings with the story in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

Stephan Roy, Executive Producer: Just before a player makes a choice there is the Augmentation Incident, augmented people are driven crazy. We start from the big incident where millions are dead. Now, it’s two years later. It used to be the Golden Age for augmented people. In 2029, the Golden Age is done and now augmented people appear to be dangerous. Normal people decided to put them into a ghetto, augmented people are segregated. It’s not based on a specific ending. It’s based on this incident.

Let’s say we picked one of the endings. Everyone who didn’t choose that ending would not feel it was fair to them. With this I think it’s a fair way to progress through the story.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution had characters that could permanently die depending on your choices. How will player choices change how the game unfolds in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

We want to make sure there are choices and consequences. A couple of have said at the end [of Deus Ex: Human Revolution], “there aren’t really consequences since at the end you can save the game and go back and choose to see all of the endings.” I guarantee with this one when you play each decision you’re going to make will have an impact and you won’t be able to cheat. If somebody has to die think twice before making your choice.

How are you going to do this? I think one of the reasons why players reversed their choices was because Human Revolution had multiple save files.

Honestly, we’re working really hard to create a saving system that’s working properly. Right now in Montreal, that is what we’re working on. We’re still designing this. Do we let players have a ton of save files? Because you can play a different path anyway. This is what we’re working on right now.

I promise when you progress much later in the game something will happen and you’re going to say, “F*ck it’s because I decided to turn left instead of right.” Not literally, but do you see what I’m saying? You’re going to have something different with the dialogue in the ending. When you play this game we want you to think and say what do I really want to do?

I liked the “conversation battles” in Deus Ex: Human Revolution like where it’s possible to talk a character instead of confronting them. Are these going to be back in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided?

Debates, the social boss fights, are still in there. But, let’s say you like to play stealth. I won’t force you to have a boss fight. You can avoid boss fights. If you want to play like this, please do it. The boss fights were kind of a paradox in Human Revolution. I was forcing you to play aggressive while you spent most of the game in stealth. Now, you won’t have that kind of paradox anymore.

I can’t say we will have more than Human Revolution, but we will have those because a lot of people liked those too.

If you were the kind of player that likes confrontation, what kind of enemies will you fight?

There is a different faction and a big difference is some enemies will be augmented. They will be able to jump very high and have different abilities. We have ARC, the Augmented Rights Coalition, and we also have a different faction in Prague.

For players that prefer stealth or don’t want to kill enemies, what kind of new abilities will they have?

Takedowns can be done in cover and there are non-lethal ones. We have a new feature called the gun arm. This powerful for fighting and there is the P.E.P.S., which fires blasts of energy. The Tesla is another weapon on Adam’s fist. You can target one to four enemies at the same time. It’s an electricity shock that is not lethal. There’s a good mix of stealth and combat.

Traveling the world is part of the Deus Ex series. Why did you pick Prague as a locale?

One thing we were sure about on our side was, Adam Jensen didn’t have a chance to visit Europe so we said we must have a place in Europe. Prague is kind of at the center of everything. There is a very interesting contrast with the past and the future. There is also a hint about the Golem City, which is built into the story. Everything fit together perfectly.

Hacking has been enhanced too and Adam Jensen can now hack objects remotely. What kind of objects can you hack?

We want hacking to be used in kind of an aggressive way it could be with a turret or to open a hidden path. Like in the demo, there was a turret and camera. We are going to have different types of devices. It’s a very powerful tool for level design. Visually, the feature is sexy too.

Does Adam know the truth about his past now from the side quests in Human Revolution?

He’s still working very hard to discover that. In Human Revolution you may remember the tag line “I didn’t ask for this.” He’s part of the anti-terrorist faction and now he isn’t like “where should I go now.” Now he’s like “I must do that.” He’s driving the show and kind of like a double agent. He’s trying to find answers because something looks suspicious and someone is pulling the strings in the back.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has connections back to the original game. Does Deus Ex: Mankind Divided further link the series together? Is the series still taking steps forward towards the events in Deus Ex?

Mankind Divided and Human Revolution are much more connected. Keep in mind, it’s just two years in the future. So the connection is really solid between these two titles. It’s not really our mandate to come back in the past.